Salalah - a paradise amidst the desert. Review on Salalah

The long awaited vacation was here.

Seven days. We could go anywhere and we had agreed on going somewhere far away

from this city lights and have some real nice relaxing days. But , the problem

is that we were still seated comfortably in our bedrooms, repeating the

question “Where to?” taking turns.

“Fujairah?” I asked...

“Nay, there is nothing other than

beach and the intercontinental.” He said unineterested “What about Saudi

Arabia?”

Me: a loooooooooong blank stare.

Then within two minutes, my husband

had a brain storm, did the famous Tom Cruise on Oprah flip and landing on the

couch said “Lets Go to Salalah!”

Me: the same

loooooooooooooooooooooooong blank stare.

“What?”

“How is it any different from Saudi?”

I asked unaffected

“Its Kerala in Gulf.” He beamed “We

get to see the green, the coconut pa ...”

“Where were you born?” as usual i

interfered

“In kerala”

“Oh ! the way you were going on, I

was getting a little bit confused.” I continued “The point is its around 4000

kms from the point you are sitting, and by car?”

“I will drive, no worries.”(I was

licenseless at that time)

I jumped up did a “yaaaaaaaaay!!” and

heard him raise his doubt “I thought you didnt want to go...”

“Oh I was just being formal and

wondering how to lightly ask you to drive all that way. How could you even

think I would say no...”

Him: a loooooooooooooooooooong blank

stare.

So we got the maps, GPS which might

probably not work once we leave the border and the luggage and got hit the road

as soon as the sun’s first ray got visible.

Salalah is known  as the Kerala of the Gulf. Green mountains,

rushing water falls, flowing rivers.... beautiful bright skies , tall coconut

palms and a temperature the rest of the Gulf cant even dream of.

UAE was under 14 degrees at that time

so was all the other GCC and hence I had all my winter wear neatly packed up.

The path led through deserts and huge mountains

We had to stop by Muscat in the night

and continue travelling the next day, and we were well aware of something. It

was hot there... unlike Abu dhabi that was freezing, it was hot and as we asked

around, someone explained “Salalah has a temperature of Kerala too, it doesnt

go really below 20.... that day the temperature was 30 degees.

I looked at my husband.... and said

“We are going to die in these

sweaters...”

“Stop whining.”( or so I whined)

So we met a Salalah that was dried

up, and green was absent everywhere. Of course we were disappointed as we could

not see the waterfalls and lush mountains. But every journey has a beauty and

certain things stay and this is about those memories that I have connected to

the trip.

I have always had a vision of the

arabs who were uptight, proud, who wore long creaseless thobes, perfectly

placed head scarves,rode Land Cruisers on the smoothest roads and wore ray bans

when it was pitch dark outside(not that there are no exceptions, there are

people I have seen and wondered, look no further when you had Late Sheikh Zayes

the ruler and founder of UAE who loved the world and cared for the expats no

matter which country they belonged to). But for once I saw people who didnt

discriminate, who considered us as their own brothers and sisters. Hard

working, honest people and I should say that I had fallen in love with the

Omanis. Women or men – all of them were humble no matter how rich they were and

i felt as if I was among my own people.

Anti Gravity point: You park your car

at the foot of the hill, put it in neutral, yake your legs off the brake and

accelerator and lie back.. the car will move on its own up the hill....But when

we reached there the place was closed off by the police... warnings all over,

so we decided to try the road than ran paralell but found nothing.... then we

saw a car venture beyond the warning signs and we followed. Another UAE regn,

when you see someone from the place you belong to in another strange place, you

feel happy, trust me you do and so we both together did it and it worked , the

car moved on its own, then something happened, the anti gravity trial run was

cut short by the police that was coming slowly after us and we fleed – both the

cars, they followed a bit and then let s go.....:)

Wadi Derbat: You take turns and go

forward on the dust winding roads only to find it give way to a beautiful

sanctuary, on either sides of the road, along it runs a fence and inside there

are so many trees that the sun is actually defeated by them, Camels and cattle

and goats stand inside grazing and it was so cool. The road ended at a point

and as we looked around we saw a river that was emerald green and a cave on the

other side.... I was mesmerized..... I was in some other part of the world...

not in the gulf where there were only dunes and dust..... We stayed there

listening to the birds chirping, the river flowing and the trees murmuring....

beautiful!!!

Coconut water: the sweetness still

stays, I have never had such tasty Coconut water(after Kerala ofcourse) and you

would fint it hard to believe your eyes when you see the number of shops lining

the roads selling them instead of dates.

There are so many other spots to go.

Like so many tombs of prophets and other hillstations , parks, water falls(only

in july – Aug) .It is a small town, something like a small town in India. But

it is a peaceful place to be in. There is a place called Sumhuram which are

remains of an early river bank civilization. Then there is a beautiful beach, i

think its called the white beach and that was breath takingly beautiful place

to be in. And also hot geysers from which natural hot water rush up (again only

in july and August).

Accomodation is available, you have

small hotels to Hilton. But if you are looking for a reasonable and decent

place to stay, ask around before you settle down. The rents vary from 300 dhs(4000

rupees) to 1000 dhs(Hilton)(10,000 rupees) per day. Breakfast  included, in some places lunch too.We did

check in for 250 dirhams but please remember that these are offseason rates. And

do travel when its july to August(august the best) because june july it would

be heavily raining there.

A paradise amidst the desert. If you

are from anywhere near Oman, I would advise you to travel through road, only

who enjoy the long drive, the deserted roads and road side cafes.But for me the

trip was just goddamn good. There are two raods (from UAE) the one that cuts

through Muscat and the other one that goes through Idri. At night Muscat is

better, because you will have places to halt and lights. Idri is a deserted

road with just desert for miles and miles and has absolutely no lights( we came

back that way...yaaaaay) and on that way back, we stopped on that deserted

road, the time was around five thirty and I saw a scene that I shall never

forget in my life. The horizon was clearly seen, and the sky looked red and

orange with the darkness closing in, the sun slowly moving into the horizon,

disappearing... I stood there watcjing the sunset, the sky turning yellow

orange red and then back to yellow and finally a deep blue ..... it was so

beautiful and it remained in my heart as I g